Saponification!

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Here’s a really good blog on making your own soap. I’ve always wanted to try it, but I won’t even try it with lye (Murphy’s Law is my mantra). I haven’t been able to find a recipe that doesn’t use lye, but still makes good, solid soap. I haven’t given up the quest, however, and the search goes on…

Bird populations in steep decline

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Rachel Carson could have written the headline herself, as she predicted this decades ago after the beginning of the chemical age.  Note that neonicotinoids have also been indicated in declining bee populations.

Cornell University has this up on the decline of birds.  Farmer’s Almanac has a forum for us bird watchers, and the news is not good.

Although we have  an active bird feeder here, I think it is an anomaly.  We’re near a river and lots of trees, and I think that makes a huge difference.  I spotted a red-tailed hawk and also a blackhawk coming around for food.  I had the feeder outside my window so I could watch the birds at close range.  However, it also made them easier targets for the hawks, so I moved the feeder closer to evergreens that provided a shelter for them.  It meant that I didn’t get to watch them as closely, but it gave them a chance against being a hawk’s dinner.

Although I have seen black-capped chickadees, apparently they are among the birds in decline.  😦

Ojibwa and Cree women healers **edited

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(This post is about spirituality and healing, so if it is not your thing….)

You know, ever since attending university, I’ve had such a craving for academic papers, and this one is just what the doctor ordered. Pun intended. 🙂

As I’m reading the first few pages, I think about my Dad as a healer and how that runs in families, it seems.  I think about how my Dad used to tell people to eat burnt toast and drink scalded milk for diarrhea and the simplicity makes me smile.  Of course, I don’t think that this remedy helped everyone — causes for dire-of-the-rear are many and this folk remedy is just one.  Besides, knowing what I know now about gluten, GMO’s, and how the diet affects health, I probably would not recommend this now.

Anyway, I love the author’s premise that healing medicine is about mind, body, and soul.  And it has been since the beginning of time.  I can see my own father’s recommendation change from burnt toast to Kaopectate.  (And after reading that the original ingredients have changed, one has to wonder *why* when salicylates are not to be given during flu, when there is a likelihood of dire-of-the-rear.  )  It’s a testament to medicine becoming more *cough* modern, using chemicals to heal, instead of natural plants and asking Creator to help heal one.

I was struck by Golden Eagle Woman’s quote that one “should believe a doctor is going to help you.”   I guess it struck me as odd because cookie cutter U.S. medicine is not based on healing, but “managing symptoms”.  Big Pharma has become too, too powerful in forcing doctors/nurses/hospitals to subscribe to the idea that illness and disease are curable/manageable with popping pills.  The healing aspect of U.S. medicine is gone, as far as I’m concerned.  It’s all about the $$$.  So it just struck me as odd that a Native American healer would say something about having faith in doctors.  I lost my faith in them and in the system long ago when no one diagnosed correctly what was wrong AND not only that, but harmed me in several ways (please see the Seldane/Synarel episode).

The faith aspect is also missing from U.S. medicine, but here I have misgivings because the mindset here is “my religion is the only TRUE religion, therefore it is the only valid way to worship God/Creator”.  Thus, when someone of a different spiritual path does not believe the same way, it would be a block to healing, instead of helping, in my opinion.  The arguments over religion are not healthy and not positive.  It’s okay if someone believes differently — it’s their path to take.

Because faith is intricately involved in healing, the physician and patient would have to believe that no matter their paths and ways of worship, that they are still asking for help from the same God/Creator.  Tough to do, if not impossible, for some folks.

Descending Mist feels a state of wellness exists when there is equal
balance between the spirit, the mind, and the body. She believes if one
of those components is not well, it will be manifested physically. Spirit
in the Rock agrees with this and says, “If your spirit is hurting, it’s
going to be manifested in the body. We need to look after the whole,
the spirit, the intellect, the body.” Descending Mist states that to be
balanced and healthy “is a beautiful state of being.”
~~~~~~~~
I agree with this, but I also think it is two-way, in that if the body is unwell, one cannot connect with the Creator, either.  As with anything that blocks or dulls the senses.  I have noticed this in my own journey — with heavy metal poisoning, one’s senses are dulled.  The heavier the poisoning, the more dull one’s senses are.  This blocks one’s connection to the Creator., in my experience. As those blockages are lifted, and I detox from the heavy metals, my connectedness with the Creator and with my surroundings are becoming more acute.  So I think it is a two-way street where one must take care of one’s body — not pollute it with chemicals or bad food — in order to nourish the spirit and connect with God.  Sweat is mentioned, and it is known that sweating is the body’s way of detoxing, too.  Fasting, too, is a way to connect, but there again, if one’s body is not healthy enough to fast, one cannot withstand it, so that would also block the connectedness to the Creator.
I looove that the women stated that cultural differences are to be celebrated, not feared.  Instinct and intuition will tell you if something is wrong and of course, one should avoid it.  But the fear of something different gets in the way of listening to intuition.  The Native American tradition is non-judgmental at its base.  It’s an acceptance of different paths and trust in the Creator.
Faith in the Creator, how the healing process works, unwavering
trust, and an intimate connection with the spirit world exists for the
aboriginal woman healers. To work trustingly from the heart center, and to accept the wondrous, seemingly impossible, magical, and mystical aspects of healing without doubt or question is required.
~~~~~~~~~~
This means to let go of the physical world and trust that the Creator is guiding you.  It’s the culture vs. nature argument where culture looks at making money off of medicine, and nature simply wants to fix that which needs fixing, without payment, without judgment, without attachment — and recognizing that the healing is done by the Creator, not by the person being used as the communicator.
—————
It’s a very powerful gift that we’ve been given…. I am not a healer….I am only an instrument in that whole process. I am the helper and the worker, the preparer, and the doer. The healing ultimately comes from the Creator.
——————
Finally, the male/female aspect must be addressed.  Women were healers throughout history, and were killed for it.  Gah, even now, men healers are being killed for it.  Makes one wonder why anyone would want to be a healer.  And the double standard of a healer also causing illness is beyond me.
  If one believes that healers are just the means by which the Creator heals people, then they cannot by definition cause harm.  The Creator would not cause harm.  The person doing the healing would not be able to because their abilities come from the Creator. ** edited to add:  the Creator would not use someone to heal if that someone would also do work for the Dark Side, that’s what I’m clumsily trying to say.
We all know the story of the Salem witch trials where the accusers made stuff up to make it appear that their chosen victims were witches when they were not.  The hysteria was phenomenal.
And let’s not forget the greed factor here — the women targeted by their accusers were the women who were different.  These women owned property in times when they were not allowed to own property (their fathers gave them the land or their late husbands bequeathed the land to them), so they were independent.  This most likely caused jealousy among the women who were married with no rights of their own and fear among men who saw these independent women as a threat. Another aspect of the financial was the women who were poor — they did not own land and they had no means to escape, and they were the ones whom were hanged.  Married women of means could escape the accusations by moving away, but the poor could not.  The trials only stopped when a man was accused of witchcraft, and he refused to “admit” he was a witch, therefore, the judge ordered him crushed to death by laying stones on him until he died.  Then the judge took the man’s land.  Yep.  It was pure greed and the one who held himself up as righteous was actually the dark one.
So what do you think?  Is healing through pills? Or is it through nature and the Creator?